Sigma's lenses have consistently impressed—both in the lab and in the field—since the launch of its Global Vision branding initiative. Its Art line, which is defined by wide aperture designs that allow for low-light shooting and incredible control over depth of field, have been standouts, both in image quality and value. The latest 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art ($849) is no exception. It's very sharp, even at f/1.4, but it does show some fall-off at wide apertures. It's an exceptional value, especially when you consider the cost of name brand alternatives for full-frame cameras—the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED ($2,199.95) and the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM ($1,549) are both significantly more expensive. Nikon photographers who are happy with a narrower field of view may want to consider the AF-S Nikkor 28mm f/1.8G as a cheaper alternative, but it doesn't match the Sigma in light gathering or sharpness. That makes the 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art our Editors' Choice.

DesignAs you'd expect from its aperture and wide angle of coverage, the 24mm is a big lens. It measures 3.6 by 3.3 inches (HD), weighs 1.5 pounds, and has a large front element that necessitates the use of 77mm filters. The minimum focus distance is 9.8 inches, the same as the Canon and Nikon alternatives. Sigma markets the 24mm for those mounts, as well as for Sony and Sigma SLRs. Like other lenses in the Art line, the lens barrel is a very hard composite plastic. There's a toggle switch on the barrel to change between manual focus and autofocus, a rubberized focus ring, and a printed focus scale. A reversible lens hood and a soft carrying case are included.

The lens doesn't include an optical stabilization system, but that's par for the course with a wide-angle prime. Nikon doesn't offer any lenses of this type with stabilization, but Canon does have the stabilized EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM ($599.99) and EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM ($549.99) in its lineup. Sony cameras employ in-body stabilization. When shooting stills a stabilized lens is certainly a boon, but not a must-have when working at such a wide angle and aperture. It's a concern if you regularly record handheld video, and you may want to consider a lens that's better suited for that purpose.

I had some focus issues with the lens when paired with the 50-megapixel Canon EOS 5DS R. At far distances the focus was accurate, even at f/1.4, but it was consistently off when working close at a wide aperture. The 5DS R allows you to dial in focus adjustment—a tool like the Focus Pyramid can help with that—and I was able to correct the behavior at close distances with a very minor adjustment, but at that point the focus at far distances was off. Sigma sells its own tool to adjust autofocus, the USB Dock, which is an inexpensive add-on that supports separate focus adjustment for near, middle, and far focus distances. Autofocus calibration may not be necessary with every camera; the same copy of the lens that had issues with the 5DS R focused fine with the EOS 6D.

Image Quality and ConclusionsI used Imatest to see how sharp the lens was when paired with the 20-megapixel 6D. At f/1.4 it puts up excellent sharpness numbers, scoring 2,360 lines per picture height on a center-weighted test. That's better than the 1,800 lines we look for in an image, and while there's a drop in crispness at the edges of the frame (2,136 lines), detail is still strong there. At f/2 the lens is a bit better, showing 2,451 lines. Images show a lot of contrast, and deep color saturation, even at f/1.4; when paired with the 50-megapixel 5DS R, I found that I was actually dropping saturation a bit to get images to look the way I wanted.

At f/2.8 the lens delivers very even sharpness across the frame, delivering a center-weighted score of 2,635 lines. There's modest improvement at f/4 (2,707 lines) and it peaks at f/5.6 (2.759 lines). Diffraction sets in at f/8 (2,723 liens) and f/11 (2,554 lines), but the lens still shows 2,328 lines when stopped down to the minimum f/16 aperture.

Fall-off is an issue at f/1.4 and f/2, but not beyond that. There's a very strong vignette at f/1.4, and a lesser one at f/2. At f/2.8 illumination is even across the frame. If it bothers you, it's easy enough to brighten the edges of the frame using a vignette correction tool in Lightroom CC or the image editing software of your choice. Even though the edges are dim at wide apertures, the lens captures plenty of detail and contrast. Barrel distortion is minimal, an accomplishment for an f/1.4 lens that covers such a wide field of view.

Sigma has another winner on its hands with the 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art. It delivers crisp images, even at its widest apertures, and it's certainly capable of capturing images with a shallow depth of field when shooting at f/1.4, especially at close focus distances. Fall-off is an issue at f/1.4 and f/2, but that can be corrected with software, and it's gone by f/2.8. I had some issue with focus calibration with one of my test cameras, but the optional USB Dock accessory can be used to perfectly match focus performance with your body if it proves to be an issue. And you can't forget the value the lens offers when compared with alternatives from Nikon and Canon. The 24mm F1.4 is a strong performer, even when you don't take the value proposition into account, and a worthy recipient of our Editors' Choice.

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Senior digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team, Jim Fisher is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really took off when he borrowed his father's Hasselblad 500C and light meter in 2007. He honed his writing skills at retailer B&H Photo, where he wrote thousands upon thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and reviews. Since then he's shot with hundreds of camera models, ranging from pocket point-and-shoots to medium format...
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